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Compare Maps of Regional Climate Projections

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Compare Maps of Regional Climate Projections

How much will temperature and rainfall change in the coming century? Use the dropdown menus to choose a pair of maps to view side-by-side. For example, try comparing:

temperature change in Australia vs. precipitation change in Australia

temperature change in South Asia as compared to temperature change in Southern Africa

The maps above show projected changes in temperature and precipitation near the end of the 21st century according to climate model runs produced for the
IPCC's 5th Assessment Report.

Colors on the maps represent anticipated changes in temperature and precipitation near the end of the 21st century. The colors indicate the expected change in temperature and precipitation around the year 2090 (averages from 2080-2100) as compared to temperature and precipitation almost a century earlier around 1995 (average of 1986-2005).

On the precipitation change maps, light green means slightly more precipitation while dark green indicates a lot more precipitation. Tan colors indicate slightly drier conditions, while darker browns represent areas that are expected to be much drier.

The precipitation maps also include cross-hatching in some areas. The IPCC authors included this feature to give you a sense of how large of a change in precipitation is expected compared to the amount of normal, natural variability in precipitation in that region. Cross-hatched areas indicate relatively large natural variation compared to the projected future change. Cross-hatching indicates that either 1) there is large natural variability of precipitation in that area, or 2) climate model projections for that area do not predict much change in precipitation.

Some patterns to look for:

Which will warm more - areas over land or over oceans? Coasts or inland regions?

Will there be more warming near the equator or near the poles? Will the Arctic and Antarctic warm the same amount?

Will there be more or less precipitation in the high-latitude regions around the North Pole and the South Pole?